Just Another Day
by QuietLittleVoices
Summary: Malcolm Reynolds and his friends are in detention. Again. What else is new? ((HS AU, Zoe/Wash, Simon/Kaylee, implied Mal/Inara))


**A/N: **my first Firefly fic ! if people are interested I'll expand this into a 'verse. I might do so regardless of interest.

* * *

Zoe blew a bubble with her gum and let it pop loudly before pulling it back in her mouth and chewing it again. She leaned back and propped her feet up on the desk in front of her.

The teacher walked in, a familiar face to all the attendants, and sighed. "You again." There was a note of fondness to Principal Book's tone.

"Aw, did you miss us, too?" Mal asked, leaning forwards in his chair and resting his chin on his hands.

The principal smiled and shook his head but didn't answer, looking down at the attendance sheet. "Jayne, Mal, and Zoe are the only ones supposed to be here." He looked up and over at where Simon and Kaylee were sitting before glancing over at Wash, who was next to Zoe. "Do I have to ask?"

Kaylee shrugged. "He's my ride." There was a rustle of murmured agreement through the teens.

"Where is Ms Serra? Has she finally risen above you delinquents?" The mans' tone was teasing, knowing that Inara would never leave the group of kids for anything.

"Finishing a math test," Mal explained. "She'll be here."

"Don't act so eager about it," Simon teased, speaking up.

Kaylee smacked her boyfriends' arm lightly. "Play nice," she cautioned. "He'll make you walk home."

Jayne sneered and tugged on his knit cap. "You might find there ain't enough space in the backseat anyway." The larger boy promptly flinched, a hand flying up to the back of his head. He turned around to look at Wash, who was whistling an off-key tune to himself while he pretended to read the comic book he was holding.

When he sensed that all eyes were on him, he looked up and made a 'who? me?' gesture. "I didn't do anything."

"You better be damn sure you – " Jayne stood up and started towards Wash but Mal jumped up and stood in front of him, placing one hand on his chest and looking at him menacingly.

"Sit back down," he said quietly, in a voice that said if you disagreed there'd be consequences.

Jayne sat back down looking put out.

Mal turned to Wash and pointed at him. "Don't push his buttons."

The blonde held up his hands in defense, eyes wide. "I didn't do anything."

"That's why your book is upside-down, sweetie," Zoe said, reaching over and plucking the slim thing from his hands and flipping it over. Wash flushed and looked down, embarrassed.

Inara chose just that moment to walk in, looking for all her worth like she was walking off the set of a made-for-TV teen movie. She commanded attention when she entered a room, all eyes were drawn to her. Or, at the very least, Mal's eyes. He never did notice if the same happened to others, but he assumed it did. "Have I missed anything?" she asked, voice cool but with a small smile audible in her tone.

"Nothing more than usual. It's good to see you again." The principal tipped his head towards the girl and she smiled.

"Wouldn't want to miss the fun now, would I?" she joked. With a quick glance around the mostly empty classroom, she went and chose the seat next to Kaylee, who was in turn sitting in front of Simon.

Distantly, Mal wanted to get up and join them in the front of the class but he held his ground in the middle.

"You'll all be free to go in thirty minutes," the principal told them. "You might want to use this time to finish your school work."

* * *

"We have to pick up River," Simon said as they left the school building. "She's coming home for the long weekend."

Wash, Mal, and Zoe piled into the front of Mal's firefly while the others shoved themselves into the back. It wasn't exactly legal to have that many people in the car, but they'd never gotten in trouble before. Inara was bumped almost into Jayne's lap and was met with a lewd comment before she climbed around both Kaylee and Simon to sit on the opposite side of the car. Her new position put her directly behind the drivers' seat, where Mal was waiting with his foot on the break to keep the old car from rolling.

"Anyone else have any pitstops before we get going?" Mal asked, his hand on the gear shift.

They all looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"Alright. Let's get going." He shifted into reverse and pulled out of the parking lot, turning left to head towards Rivers' boarding school.

With the gang all together, he knew it was gonna be an eventful weekend.


End file.
